Science Not Magic
by Mei Neko
Summary: Merlynn is a modern girl genius who believes in the power of science.  So when she finds herself in medieval Camelot - she chalks it up as time travel.  And anything that seems magical is a genetic mutation.  Talking dragon...okay maybe there's magic.
1. Prolugue

Disclaimer: _Merlin_ belongs to the creators and BBC – basically it's not mine.

Warnings: genderbender, very little romance, plenty of bromance, some gory description, and some bad language

Notes: I've read plenty of AU and genderbender fics that I'm sort of tired at how repetitive they are. So I'm going to try my hand at this genre with a more refreshing outlook of the series.

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><p>Science Not Magic<p>

By Mei Neko

Prologue

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><p>I often have dreams in which I could never remember.<p>

Although I suppose that just about everyone has difficulty in remembering their dreams, but one would think that a person with perfect memory and recall would actually remember. I suppose it is a psychology thing in which my mind is trying to protect itself from whatever trauma I suffered before I was adopted.

Being the adopted child of two professors of early civilization history and Arthurian legends tends to suck when it comes to helping out with the occasional math homework. However everything else is just peachy when it comes to book reports, history tests, and ironically enough - gym.

Now that I'm eighteen – technically an adult and the pride and joy in graduating with my Master in Forensic Science and Law (skipped a school or two); my only flaw that my parents have against me is that I have a degree in the sciences instead of the arts. My reward in being the little genius that I am was a trip with my parents to one of the sites believed to be Camelot for my father's work.

I guess they thought it would be great break from what I'll be doing for the rest of my life – working in a medical center.

In any case, my parents are saving money in having a trip to be combined with family time/anniversary all in one. It's actually hilarious especially since father had totally forgotten about the anniversary part. However mother was kind enough to hold it against him.

But going back to my dreams, I often asked my collages about this as well as my parents. Those who have a back ground in psyche only tell me it might be more of a medical problem but nothing too serious since it was obvious that my activities of daily living were not being impaired and they were also pretty sure that I would turn psycho on anyone. Mother and father believe that dreams are not worth having trouble with.

Except sometimes I wonder if these dreams have something to do with the odd things that have been happening to me throughout my life – things that even today's science could not possible explain except in fantasy.

My parents often bragged to their friends that I was not a fussy child and despite the fact that their careers in history often consumed their attention, I had been content as a child with the books and toys they have given me. Of course I stayed in my room most of the time and family time consisted of eating meals together and watching a movie right after that. Sometimes we even go into discussion about their work or about school for me. To them, it was absolutely perfect.

What they never knew was in my room, my toys floated and moved at my will. Sometimes, I would just lie on my bed, staring at a piece of lint and watch as its movement slowed to a crawl before its movement changed back to a normal pace. Whenever I took a bath, I could make the water change into whatever shape I wished and I once even saw something on the surface. That last bit scared me that I stuck to showers soon afterwards.

It wasn't like I did anything too dangerous with these abilities. However after watching enough conspiracy theory movies and watching the news – I kept these secrets to myself. I had to admit that it was difficult considering that I wanted to show off as a child, but after showing off how smart in a class full of students easily five years older than myself – the lesson stuck to kept anything odd to myself.

I suppose that people would say that having these abilities would mean that I should go out and do some good with the world. However it is easy to see that the world go against me – lock me up and throw the key away until they need me.

I am alone in a world where science explains everything and where history is the backbone of humanity.

I alone am a human with what people could consider to be a mutation.

My name is Merlynn and I wish I'm not alone.

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><p>AN: Yes very short and the next chapter is on its way. I promise you it's going to be better than this.<p> 


	2. Chapter One

AN: Here's the first chapter of the fic – hope you all like it. All the warnings and disclaimer are on the first chapter – I'm not going to bother writing it up every chapter.

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><p>Science Not Magic<p>

Chapter One

By Mei Neko

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><p>Many of the workers simply ignored the American girl walking past them as they continued on with their jobs in search for more clues for Camelot. The pretty girl had been an amusing bit of excitement for a couple days before a more interesting find took over. Although many of the workers thought that her father – their boss, must have been drunk to name a girl after a legendary figure of Arthurian history.<p>

Merlynn had taken the ribbing easily and was glad that she had more free time to look around. Already she could easily see that her father was not going to find that much evidence that these ruins could possible to be the home of King Arthur and his court. Mostly because the size of the ruins seemed too small to be Camelot.

It was another hour or two before she felt that she was truly alone. It was another thing that she developed in her years with the abilities. In a place where solitude exists, Merlynn allowed herself the urge to remove the backpack from her shoulders and let it followed her up a narrow animal trail. Sometimes she had gut feelings that tend to lead her feet somewhere that turned out to be amazing like the time when she managed to find a cat giving birth to kittens or the time she saw a whale because she got the urge to go on deck during a cruise with her parents.

This time, she was led to something like a cave but there were rocks that were shaped well enough for her to use as a table and chair. Smiling at this small discovery, she urged the backpack on the table before it opened itself and the contents in it. It took only a couple minutes before a nice picnic presented itself to her. Here she had taken bits of leftovers from a small family bistro which consists of a piece of steak and kidney pie, an onion tart, a small salad, and a dessert called Spotted Dog which was a pastry baked with dried fruit and covered with custard sauce.

She also took out her netbook which contained all the information she needed to start on the job she earned just before this trip.

"Working with the latest in technology and under the most brilliant minds in the field." Merlynn mused as she looked over all of the documents. It was a pity that her job was going to be back in the U.S. instead of somewhere here – the food here was more to her taste than the fast food she suffered through college.

It could have been hours before she noticed the change in the sun's position and that she still had a piece of her dessert left over. Deciding that it was best to start her trek home, Merlynn began to pack everything up. She had just finished with packing her binders of notes filled with diagnosis that she had done during her clinical and courses that she noticed that she had forgotten to pack in her new badge id which came with the packet from her new job.

The badge was still on the table rock however it was not alone. She froze as she saw next to her id was some sort of bird – a falcon. Although it was a rather small falcon, Merlynn always had this idea that birds of prey were usually bigger than they are. However it was still exciting to be so close to an animal no matter what it is. Most of her life was spent staring at squirrels and the more common North American birds like cardinals and robins. She could still appreciate the occasional chance of being close to a mammal she normally never have a chance to be with.

She had expected that the falcon would just fly away and it did – with her name badge!

"Wait!" Merlynn yelled as she ran after it, her backpack flying to keep up with her. "Give that back!"

Later she would berate herself about yelling at a bird with no understanding of the human language but as of now, Merlynn was too busy attempting to catch up with the falcon. With her eyes focused on the fleeing bird, her body automatically jumped over roots, rocks, and upturned terrain. She dodged sudden appearances in tree branches and pushed herself off of trees for momentum whenever the falcon changed direction.

So concentrated on her need to recover her badge, Merlynn failed to notice that the trees were becoming closer together, that the ground was becoming harder and harder to run even with her hiking boots, and that the sky was turning lighter with each step.

"Stupid bird! Just drop the thing! It's not like you can eat it! You'll probably die!" she yelled and realized that she was an idiot for not using her 'telekinesis' to fix the mess. That was the problem in hiding supernatural abilities – they tend to be forgotten until a person could remember.

Still running, she imagined the shape and feel of her badge before reaching out with her mind or whatever it is that she used to give out a powerful yank. Her lips formed a smile as the falcon cried in outrage as it was yanked downed suddenly from some unseen force. Its surprise caused it to release the piece of plastic and in that instant, Merlynn reached out and the badge shot out and slammed into her out stretched hand. Still running, she looked over the badge and was pleased that it was mostly the plastic over that was damaged instead of the id itself. The cover could be easily replaced.

Slowing down, she was about to stop when everything just went to pieces. Apparently she had used up her good luck in chasing after the falcon and was now facing the repercussions. Her right foot had landed on an angle causing her to till. As she tried to catch her balance, the backpack that had been zooming after her decided not to stop but to ram into her.

"Argh!"

To top it all off, she had been running on the edge of some sort of hill.

Pain blossom on her right shoulder as she landed hard on the ground and soon the rest of her body picked up more sports of pain as she rolled down the hillside. Soon not only was her body getting beaten by Mother Nature, her stomach begun to turn queasy and she could feel dizziness from all the rolling downwards.

God damn vestibular nerves.

So as she suffered and barely noticing that she was picking up speed, Merlynn passed out when her body completely stopped by a thick tree trunk.

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><p>It was her nose that made her wake up from her unconscious state. She had snorted up some dirt which gave her a sneezing fit and woke her. Once that was cleared, it only took her a second to remember the events that had happen before she began to check for injuries. Checking her pulse, she concluded that she most likely wouldn't go into shock and that her respiratory rate seemed good.<p>

As Merlynn began to visually check herself, she noticed that the only pain she felt was a discomfort from sitting on the ground. Self-healing turned out to be another one of her abilities since she knew that her right shoulder should be aching in pain and that her left side should contain some fractured ribs. The only evidence of her fall was the dirt on her clothes. Lucky for her, the clothes she wore (a pair of pants made out of beige denim, a murky blue top, a brown thermo hoddie jacket, and a red scarf around her neck) were not torn.

Getting up, she began to dust herself off as she looked around. A snort escaped as Merlynn saw that her backpack had landed neatly beside her and she took it up and strapped it to her back. From the difference in terrain, she judged that she must have run at least a mile or less. Patting her pockets, she pulled out her iPhone (a present for all med students) and look to see the time. It has been nearly seven hours since she left the inn and now she was sure that her parents were going to freak out since she promise to return for supper.

She checked for any missing messages and only found two. When she listened to them it was only to learn that her parents called to tell her that they had been invited to have dinner with a professor from the local university and that if she could not make it to give them a call. The next one was them to remind her to call.

And she would have – with the exception that she currently had no reception in the area.

"Stupid bird." She muttered before trying on a map app to see if there was any way to figure out where she was. Unfortunately, all she got was her little blue dot surrounded by a gray grid. "Stupid GPS."

Looking up to the point where she had fallen, Merlynn decided that it was better to continue downwards and hopefully find either a river where she could follow along the shore or a road. That way she would be able to find a farm or town with a landline so she could get in touch with her parents. With that decided, she began the long trek to find a phone.

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><p>It was beginning to dawn on Merlynn that something was rather odd.<p>

It had been nearly two hours since she fell and it just occur to her that the sun should be setting by now. Instead its position was indicating that it was currently noon. Now that the forest was starting to thin out, she could see that it looked like it was in the middle of spring instead of summer with all the flowers that were currently blooming on the trees and the buds of leaves from all the branches she could see.

Pressing her lips together, she thought over and over to calm down. There should be a perfectly normal explanation where everything will make sense. She should not freak out about Mother Nature screwing with her mind. Besides she not an environmental expert – the most she knows about nature if it deals with a dead body or a crime scene. Rubbing her temples, Merlynn tempted to relieve the tension that was starting to grow into a full blown headache.

"God, I need coffee – coffee with lots of chocolate, caramel, and whipped cream." She whimpered as she softly hit her head against a tree. After another minute of freaking out, she continued on.

When she finally came across a road, Merlynn nearly kissed it with if weren't for the fact that a few meters away another person was showing up. Looking over at the person she could easily deduce that it was a male about her age – possibly a few years older than herself, his clothing in a style that she barely recognized, and it was obvious that he was traveling somewhere – most likely to where there are people and phones.

"Hey!" she called out.

Her call startled the young man and he looked like he was waking out of some sort daydream. If Merlynn were asked to describe him, she could say at first look the man looked ordinary – brown eyes, shaggy hair that was mousy brown, tan skin from labor, and looked healthy enough although it was possible that he could eat more to gain a couple pounds or so. However after studying him for a few more seconds, Merlynn would admit that the young man was the type whose looks become more appealing after being in his company longer.

By the time he reached her, Merlynn decided that he was handsome.

"Hello." The man answered warily – as if deciding that she was some sort of dangerous person.

"Hi, you have no idea how happy I am to see someone. You wouldn't happen to know where the nearest town is by chance? I don't have any reception and I need to call my parents."

The young man looked at her in confusion. Merlynn quickly assumed that it was her lack of accent. It seemed that in the country an American accent – at least the one she grew up in Ohio, is a novelty.

"Well, miss, the nearest in these parts is Camelot – that's where I'm heading." The young man replied slowly.

"Camelot?" Merlynn asked in disbelief before shaking her head at that. It was possible that some small town would call itself Camelot – probably the reason why her father believed that the ruins he was looking into was the castle of King Arthur. "Great! You don't mind if I travel with you? You know, for protection?"

This seemed to please the young man just a bit and he smile made his face light up. Merlynn smiled in return and held out her hand.

"My name is Merlynn Amberson."

The young man took her hand and shook it.

"My name is William of Ealdor – you can just call me Will."

"How long until we reach Camelot?"

"Just another half day – we'll most likely reach the city before it turns dark." Will answered as he looked up at the sun. The two began to walk along the road in a brisk pace. Merlynn was delighted to see that they were about the same height – she was only about an inch or two shorter and that keeping up with Will was almost no trouble. "So were you separated from your mother and father?"

"No, I was just out on my own and I was about to go back but this falcon flew off with something of mine and now I'm lost." She answered with a grin. "But I just need to get into town and call them. So why are you going to Camelot?"

Will than began his story on how Ealdor was a rather poor village and that it was getting harder and harder for the family to survive – especially since all the money was spent on seeds and tools for the crops. He was going to Camelot in order to find a job – most preferably in the castle since they pay the most for a poor man such as himself. One of his neighbors had connections with the royal court physician who was willing to put him up for a few days until he gets a job. It had been a tough decision for Will since he dislike the nobility for their selfishness and the fact they throw away the lives of the common people like trash, however his mother and sister were currently being supported by his uncle and his family. For Will, money would be better for his family instead of staying in Ealdor as a famer.

Merlynn bit her tongue to prevent herself from saying anything. Will's story sounded just like that – a story. Did she stumble upon some role playing game that these English people do to screw with tourists? Or was there a Medieval/Aruthrian festival going on? She could easily see her mother totally going for this type of stuff.

Except why wasn't she calling on his bluff? Looking into his eyes, she could barely detect any signs of lying – Will must be an excellent actor. But why was the back of her mind insisting that this is not a joke?

"What about you? Are your family merchants? I must admit your clothing and sack are much better than anything I've ever seen. I doubt you're that of nobility." Will comment with a grin. Merlynn gave a shaky laugh at that.

"No. No royalty in my blood. At least I don't think so. My parents adopted me when I was four and they're professors." At Will confusion, Merlynn clarified it more. "They're scholars and teachers. We traveled here for their work. I only joined them as a vacation before I go back to my new job."

"Scholars? Is there really any money in that sort of thing?" Will asked surprised.

"I know what you mean. But there are plenty of rich people who finance silly projects that they hire people to look into."

"Then, what about you? Are you going to be a scholar as well?"

"No! God no! I'm a doctor – a medical examiner and forensic specialist." Merlynn replied laughing. However this only confused Will even more.

"Doctor? Medical examiner? Aren't you too long to be a doctor? I've seen apprentices your age – but not a doctor." Will muse with a frown. Merlynn only rolled her eyes at that.

"I'm what people consider to be a genius. I'm too smart for my own good and it doesn't help that I have perfect memory. So everyone else thought it would be better if they let me go ahead and do what I want."

Will kept on asking more questions about her job and was both disgusted and fascinated that being a medical examiner meant dealing with the dead and figuring out how they die. He was fascinated by her descriptions of all the bodies she had to examine as a student and how crime was solved just simple by forensic evidence alone. However he did not believe that she would be able to figure the life of a person after they die.

"Come on! There is plenty of medical evidence left on a body that can tell the story of person. Like with you," Merlynn said as she grabbed his right hand as she walked backwards, "look, your calluses on your right hand are more pronounced than the ones on your left - thus suggesting that you are right handed. Also the fact that you have your bag on the left side instead of the right suggests that you must have pulled a muscle from doing some sort of work – possibly from farming."

"Lucky guess." Will retorted as he pulled his hand away.

"Just wait – if we ever encounter a dead body, I'll prove it to you."

"God! I hope not!"

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><p>They found a dead body.<p>

"Oh God, there is a dead body." Will moaned as they looked down at the body of a lady. He glared at Merlynn like it was her fault.

"Hey! You jinxed it!" Merlynn retorted as she looked down at the body.

"You said if we ever encounter a dead body!"

"And you jinxed it by saying 'God! I hope not!' So it's your fault."

"That's utter horse manure!"

The body in question belongs to that of a lady between her late twenties to her early thirties. Despite the discoloration and the bugged eye look on her face, the lady was actually quite pretty. Brown hair that looked like was being braided, skin that must have been fair with a splash of freckles to cover it, and the clothing was that of a nightgown with a robe – the kind that one would expect to see that of a noble. Merlynn had seen enough of possible medieval fashions to deduce this.

Wishing that she had gloves, Merlynn touched the body and felt for rigorous mortis and figured that it has been almost three days since the lady died. Checking over the body, it was easy to see that there was no physical evidence of any sort of trauma and if the position of the hands were any indicator, it appeared that the lady had suffered a heart attack. Pushing the lady up, she also saw that there was no evidence there either.

"What are you doing?" Will hissed as he stayed away from the body.

"Female between her late twenties and early thirties looks like she's been dead for about three days at the most. No signs of trauma and no physical evidence of attack." Merlin commented as she moved down and lifted the skirt of the night gown. Will choked as she looked up and into the skirt. "Also it looks like she hasn't been raped as well. So it's not a sexual crime."

"Don't do that!" Will cried out as he pulled her away from the body. "Have some decency!"

Merlynn only shook him off.

"The decent thing would be to send the body to her family. It's really odd for someone her age to die of a heart attack."

"So? Let's just continue on!"

"But don't you find it odd that she's just left there? I thought nobility would be the type to bury their dead."

This stopped Will from freaking out and he frowned. Looking around the area that they found the body he noticed tracks and holes that would suggest that a tent was put up. Then taking another look at the body, he was beginning to see what Merlynn was talking about. If there was one thing that Will would ever care about the nobility, it was the fact they always take care of their own.

"You're right – there are signs of a camp and horses. What do you think happened? Someone strangled her and left her there?"

"No, she's wasn't strangled – no bruising on any part of her body. And they didn't really just dump the body since there wasn't any post mortem bruising either. Whoever discovered her body first was careful in placing it down on the ground. It looks like she died from a heart attack." Merlynn answered as she shook her head.

"And no one bothered to hide it." Will add with a frown. Then he looked over at Merlynn with a sigh. "So what are we going to do?"

"We're going to have to bring the body with us. Or at least one of us has to stay here to make sure no one try to mess with it while the other gets the police or whatever it is that they have for a justice system." Merlynn answered with a frown. The best situation would be to let Will go while she stayed with the body. Mostly because Will was the one who had an idea where Camelot is. "Too bad I don't have tools or a lab. I could take the time to figure out how she died."

"You'll get executed for it too." Will said with a shake of his head.

Before any more could be said, they both heard sounds of horses, chatter, and the squeaks of wheels. Will ran out to the road and called out for the men. Merlynn followed to see a cavern of merchants on their way to someplace called Mercia and that they were slightly annoyed that news of rain that could delay their travels had prevented them from seeing and listening the glorious Lady Helen of Mora.

Then they saw the body and all of them freaked out about the fact that the body was that of Lady Helen of Mora.

"That's impossible! Witchcraft! I saw the lady and her guards ride into the castle just two days ago!" one merchant cried out before glaring at the two youths but Merlynn ignored him. It was starting to make sense.

"So instead of a heart attack – it's murder." She said to Will whose eyes widen at the implications.

"You mean someone disguised themselves as the lady and killed her?" he asked with a look of horror.

"In order to take her place. It's probably a spy thing or another murder. No one would bother to kill someone and take their place to get rid of them. But why her?" Merlynn asked as she looked at the body, hoping for answer from it.

Silence grew in the forest before one of the merchants broke it.

"Lady Helen of Mora was supposed to be singing tonight at the feast – the one with the King."

Both Merlynn and Will gasped as they shared a look. Then Merlynn looked over at the merchants with a calculating look on her face.

"Master merchants, I was wondering if you are willing to delay your trip to give the Lady Helen justice."

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><p>When Will left Ealdor, he didn't think he was going to do anything exciting. In fact he expected that the city life would be boring, messy, and loud.<p>

He never expected to meet up with an odd girl who wore odd but surprisingly appropriate male clothing.

He never expected to befriend the girl easily despite her odd way of talking and her odd ideas.

And he never expected to be with her in the back of an empty merchant cart with a dead body of a noble.

"Christ, it's bumpy. Camelot needs to invest in proper road maintenance."

If anything, Merlynn is the oddest girl he has ever met – and that was saying something considering that he thought the female race to be odd. Although Merlynn is pretty despite the way her ears stick out too much and that she was rather skinny, she didn't act like any girl he had ever met. One thing was that she was cleverer than any girl he has known and that despite the fact how obvious that Will was from a different class than her; she treated him like an equal. Also, her hair was put up in some sort of contraption that he has never seen before.

"What are we going to do?" Will ask as darkness was approaching. The horses that were currently pulling the cart were set at a trot so that they would be able to breathe from the long gallop before. "It's not like we can just demand to see the king and expect him to believe us."

"He'll have to when we drag up the dead body. If anything, he'll have to investigate. We have evidence to prove our side." Merlynn replied airily. He wanted to argue against her belief that the king would believe them. If the rumors from the traders who came to Ealdor were true, the king had banned magic from the entire kingdom of Camelot.

No one knew the reason for the ban other than the fact the king did not trust what he did not have and that was magic. Will have seen a couple of magic users pass through Ealdor and was wary of them. However they had been harmless and even helped the village with a few things with their magic before they left.

It was at least an hour or two into the night when they reached Camelot. Will had been nervous about carrying the body, but Merlynn had the merchants wrapped the body from head to toe and ordered for a sling so that she and Will could carry it. Then she took some rope and wrapped the body to the sling so it would not fall out. Then in a progression, they, the body, and the merchants marched up to the castle.

Will was surprise how the guards had let them in and even had one of their own lead them quickly to where the king was. Although if a girl like Merlynn acting important and showing the face of Lady Helen who was suppose to be at the feast on a dead body, he would probably do the same. They all walked quickly as possible and the guard called out to the two guarding a large door. With a few seconds of harsh whispering, they opened the door with a loud creak.

Whatever Will was expecting out of a feast in a castle, it certainly was not this – people asleep upon their seats and feet with cobwebs draped over them. And there was this rather haunting melodic voice singing in a language that he had never heard before. He could feel his body suddenly grow heavy and that his eyes were blinking like they were trying to stay open. Behind him, his ears barely heard a few thuds as if bodies were dropping and he looked behind him to see that most of the people who had followed them were down on their knees and were about to fall on the floor. Looking forward he saw that oddly enough Merlynn appeared to be unaffected by whatever it was that was being done to the majority.

Then she dropped her side of the sling and ran towards a figure dressed in violet with long brown hair – hair that looked like the dead Lady Helen. Will vaguely noticed that the violet figure held something in one hand – a weapon? And that they were headed towards a dais with three seated figures. If he remembered correctly, that would be where the King would sit. That meant that the prince and the king's ward also sat there.

However anymore musings on the royal family was placed on the side of his mind as Merlynn was upon the figure and did something that was so odd and later on he'll think hilarious – she booted the figure on the bottom. The singing stopped and suddenly Will felt like he could hear and see everything clearly. He noticed that his body was in a crouch and he quickly straighten. Looking down at the sling, he was glad that he was holding the head side since Merlynn had released her side.

The people around them began to come to life. Many of them looked confused while others began to remove the cobwebs that were on them. Merlynn was struggling to pin the violet figure down on the floor and had managed to place a knee on the figure's back.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Instantly everyone froze and Will looked up to see the king glaring down at them all as the prince and the ward kept on removing the webs. Will gulp as he bowed his head and studied the king as well as he could.

King Uther was a regal and stern looking man with a clean shaven face and what seems to be a rather permanent glare. Will could feel his throat closed up and he could hear the fidgeting of the others behind him. No one really wanted to say anything to a king whose feast was interrupted.

However Merlynn appeared to be an exception to that.

"This woman is a murderer and it appears to be that she was going to murder you or your children." The odd girl answered before concentrating on the struggling figure below.

"What!" yelled the prince as he brought up his sword. Will had to stop himself from snorting at the prince's actions.

The king looked down at Merlynn and the figure before his eye narrowed if determining that what Merlynn said was true. There was a twitch from his nose as if the king was not pleased to see a young woman wearing men attire before he studied the struggling figure who was growling from her position.

"Lady Helen of Mora is a noble woman of character and while the circumstances are rather unusual, I hope for your sake that you do not accuse lightly."

"I'm sure Lady Helen was a noble woman of character," Merlynn began seriously before giving hit at the struggling figure, "However, your majesties, this person is not Lady Helen. Will!"

Will knew exactly what Merlynn wanted and struggle to hold the sling upright so that the king could see the face of Lady Helen as he remove the wrapping on the face. Everyone gasped in horror and a few women fainted at the sight of the dead body. Will knew that it wasn't a pretty sight and the king looked like he was about to exploded.

"This afternoon, Will and I came across a body of a noble woman dressed in her night clothes. After examining the body, I concluded that the lady was dead at least three days and she appeared to have died from a heart attack. There were no bruisings and physical evidence that suggests an attack or assault. We both found it odd that the body was laid like that since Will discovered markings of a camp and that nothing was done to bury the body. The merchants with us gave us the identity of the body as Lady Helen and even mentioned that they witness her person arriving at the castle two days ago. All of us assumed that Lady Helen's murder was just a plot for something worse." Merlynn answered before she looked down at the imposter.

"Although to be honest, I'm amaze at the make up being used on this woman's disguise. It's the best look alike I've ever seen, unless it's natural."

Will was about to make a comment when Merlynn suddenly screamed and jumped away from the imposter. He was about to ask what was wrong when he caught sight of the imposter. Instead of the lovely face of Lady Helen of Mora, the figure wearing the violet gown had stringy white hair that looked like it had been falling off over the years. When the lady turned around, Will held back a yell of horror as he saw the wrinkled face, the too pale skin, and the look of pure fury of a crone.

"You!" the king cried out in rage.

The look on Merlynn's face matched that of Will's – the king actually knew the crone?

"Yes, Uther! I! You took my son and now I'll take yours!" the crone screamed. With that the crone raised a dagger on one hand and threw it towards the direction of the prince. Everyone gasped and screamed in horror at the possible death of the prince – at least they would have.

Merlynn, still horrified at the sight of a lady turning into a crone had tripped on her feet and was trying to stay upright. She hopped around and had her back turned right into the path of the dagger's trajectory. Will yelled as the dagger plunged into Merlynn's sack and watched her fall to the ground. He dropped the sling as he ran over to his new friend while the guards finally acted and restraint the crone who screamed in angry that her last chance in killing the prince had failed.

"Merlynn!" Will yelled as he reached to her side and felt relieved as he saw his friend was alive and unharmed. "You idiot! Don't go tripping with dangerous crones with daggers."

"I'll remember that the next time that happens." She snapped before looking at her bag and paled at the sight of the dagger. Will interpreted the face she made as fear of nearly being killed.

"Yeah, close call there."

Instead of being relieved or laughing it off like a normal person, Merlynn got up and walked right up to the crone, upset.

"What is wrong with you? I don't care if you have a grudge against the man, but what did the Lady Helen do to deserve murder? And how the hell did you look like her? You facial structure is too different for any type of make to hide it and I don't even see any prostatic plastics or rubbers as evidence! And your voice! There's no way anyone can mistaken a young woman's voice with yours!"

Will was beginning to understand that Merlynn was being hysterical and upset with everything that has happened.

"You lady, calm yourself before I have you removed from my presence." King Uther ordered calmly and waited as Merlynn pressed her lips and quieted. "What you just witness is the evil use of magic. The vile creature before you is that of a witch."

However the king's explanation only infuriated Merlynn and she snapped in frustration.

"That's impossible. Magic doesn't exist." She snapped. Will held his breath as he saw how the king reacted to her statement. At first there was a look of anger at being disbelieved before it slowly melted to one of pity. The king took a deep breath before he began to talk.

"I will assume that you are innocent of the evils of magic and will excuse your rudeness upon my person. However let me assure you, young lady, that magic unfortunately exists and its corruption is known to creep around the lands of Camelot."

Merlynn looked like she wanted to protest before she gave nod and said nothing. But her agitation was apparently as she cast glares at the crone. This time the king gave an understanding smile and gestured Merlynn and Will to come forward. Will prayed that his friend would not do anything stupid as they came closer.

"The two of you have done much and saved the life of my son and the honor of Lady Helen. I am much in debt to you and I wish to reward the both of you."

"And the merchants," Merlynn added, "they helped in identifying Lady Helen."

Will thought the king would be angry at the correction but the king only looked amused.

"I see. I shall offer the merchants a suitable reward later on. Now how should I reward the two of you?"

Merlynn had no problem in naming a reward but she looked over at Will who only squirmed at being stared down at by the king.

"My friend Will would like a job here in the castle. As best as possible please." She replied for him as he glared at her for her gumption. The king gave a nod and speculated look before he made his decision.

"My son, Prince Arthur, is in need of a manservant. You, Will, shall take that post."

All the air in his lungs disappeared as Will realized he got a rather high standing post. However after a swift look over the prince, he was beginning to doubt his new position. From the look of it, the prince looked more annoyed than grateful. However as he cast his gaze over at Merlynn, Will saw that she froze in some sort of shock. It was difficult to tell what could have caused this sort of change on his friend.

"And you, young lady? What reward should I give you? I'm certain my ward Lady Morgana could use another maid."

This aroused Merlynn from her mood and she quickly shook her head.

"I'm afraid that I would be a horrible maid to Lady Morgana," Merlynn replied as humbly as possible in Will's ears, "I am a woman of science and in my country, I am a certifiable doctor."

"A doctor?" the king asked with a trace of disbelief.

"She is, your majesties." Will answered with a bow. He tensed as he felt the weight of the king's gaze. "It was she who determined the cause of death of Lady Helen and if she did not have the knowledge of determining the time of death, we would all assume that nothing had been a missed."

The silence was long as the king thought over everything that had been said. Then King Uther turned his gaze upon an elderly man in well made robes and gesture him to come over.

"Gaius, do you think you can take on an apprentice? While I have doubts about the girl's claim, I suppose it would not hurt for you to have an assistant of some sorts." The king commanded. Gaius only nodded.

"I could use some help with some of the work. And I could possibly share knowledge with…" Gaius looked over at Merlynn.

"Merlynn." Merlynn replied to the silent question.

"With Merlynn." Gaius finished with a smile. The king gave a nod at that.

"Good, take these two and have them settle. And as for the rest of you," the king called as he looked over the people who watched over them, "I am afraid that our celebrations must be postponed for a later time. Magic gives rest for no one."

As the chamber became a rush of mutters and grumbles, Will and Merlynn followed Gaius to another section of the castle. The entire time, Gaius conversed with Will, talking about his family and the neighbor who wrote the recommendation for his stay. They tried to get Merlynn to talk but she was so lost in her thoughts that she looked spooked every time they talked with her. Will assume that it was the magic she saw that scared her and told her so. The answer he got was a look of absolute disbelief.

"You're serious? Magic? Please Will, that wasn't magic." She scoffed and waved the idea of magic wave. Both Gaius and Will shared a look before he continued on.

"What else could it have been? Especially since no one could possible change their appearance so quickly." Will pointed out.

"Will, magic is just a word to explain the impossible. The old lady probably has a genetic mutation that she's able to contort her facial muscles to change faces. She must have been wearing a wig and it just fell off somewhere in a blind spot that I didn't see it. You'll see, a servant is going to find a wig in the morning." She answered with a roll of her eyes.

"You don't believe in the existence of magic?" Gaius questioned with interest.

"No I don't. To be quite honest the idea of anyone having magic is totally improbable. I've never seen anyone using magic in my life and I doubt I ever will. The only magic in the world is simply imagination and slight of hand tricks." She replied confidently.

Will felt a bit of pity that his friend was in denial and it was obvious that Gaius could not believe that there was someone who actually denied the existence of magic. It was probably the reason why the king appeared to be so tolerant over her oddness.

"Do you think the king will let me do an autopsy on the old lady when she dies? It kinda looks like she'll crock any minute and I bet her facial muscles will make an interesting case study."

Then again, Will thought, the king might find her too odd and just execute his friend.

* * *

><p>AN: I hope you all like this chapter here. The next one will be the Valient one and of course Merlynn will do her best to deny the idea of magic existing.<p> 


	3. Chapter Two

AN – I have to admit that I'm sort of sad that I didn't get a lot of reviews. I guess that means I need to write more. Also I kinda broke my computer so now at least four of the keys don't work – the semi colon, age u, age down, and from the last four words I'm sure you guys can figure out the last one. Thank God for sell check for some of the words and the rest – well as you can see.

Warning – not beta

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><p>Science Not Magic<p>

Chapter Two

By Mei Neko

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><p>Merlynn personally thought she was taking everything rather well.<p>

After all waking up in an uncomfortable bed with the smell of burning meat in the air and remembering everything that had happened in the past 24 hours with the reaction of screaming into her pillow was a rather small reaction. Of course, she was not quite sure that anyone else had found themselves back in time during the time of the beginning of the Golden Age and gained employment in King Arthur's court.

Well, technically it was King Uther – Gaius had readily supplied all the information of court hierarchy, who had given her the job. And he has a son name Arthur and a 'ward' name Morgana. Honestly who calls adopted children ward? Merlynn had thought that Morgana was Uther's child considering that all three royal members had clef chins. Also there were all of those books on Arthurian legends that her father read aloud to her as her bed time stories.

Later when she grew up, Merlynn found all the texts of King Arthur and his knights to be so confusing that she gave up on doing any research over them. Science was better considering the fact that everything was properly categorized and most of the time made sense.

So if she really was back in time, most of the legends were absolute rubbish.

Getting up, Merlynn noticed that the only clothes that she has were the ones on her back and that she would need a new outfit. However all she could do was splash cold water over her face and wear her old clothing. Opening her door, she entered into the main chamber of the Royal Court Physician's wing.

Last night, she had barely noticed the room, however now she could easily appreciate it. It was the room was easily three stories high with wall to wall shelves full of books, tomes, and scrolls stuff in every single bit of space. There were also shelves full of vials and dried herbs. In fact the room smelled like an herbal shop and smoke. In fact it looked better than what she had expected out of medieval medical center.

"Ah, good! You're awake, Merlynn. Come and eat breakfast. I believe that Will is still asleep."

She looked down from her spot and saw that Gaius was setting down a bowl of something that looked like grits. Merlynn winced as she disliked the texture of the hot cereal but knew better than to complain. Besides she was getting hungry. Sitting down at the table, she was relieved to see that there was a small pot of honey in which she poured a good amount in (what she believed to be) the porridge.

"Thank you, Gaius," she replied as gratefully as possible, "So did they continue on with the feast? I smelt cooked meat from my window this morning."

Gaius flinched at her question before giving a rather odd chuckle.

"His majesties had the witch burned during the middle of the night – to ensure that she would not escape like she had before."

Merlynn rolled her eyes at the old hag being called a witch. Pity, she was hoping to do that autopsy on her too. It would have been an amazing scientific find – probably the only one of its kind. Then she recalled what had happen with the 'witch.'

"Does she have any family? With her genetic make-up it's possible that family through her side might be able to have the same ability." She inquired while at the same wondering if there was any way she could create a microscope like Anton van Leeuwenhoek so she could study the cells. When no answer was given, she looked up to see that Gaius was giving her a long look.

"You truly do not believe in magic. I've never met anyone like that before."

"Well, there isn't any magic where I come from." Merlynn stated. "Everything is explained through science and logic. Like that old woman – her rapid ability to look like another woman is due to her facials muscles being completely more sophisticated than the normal human's. Also her skin elasticity is something amazing – people would kill to be able to truly reverse aging like that. Pity that I don't have the tools to really explore it."

Gaius only shook his head at her.

"Your hopes in another living relative are gone. She only had one son and he was executed a week ago."

"Well, there goes the one the best scientific discovers of the century. Anyways, Gaius, is there any place I can get new clothes? I've only come to Camelot with the clothes on my back."

"Really?" Gaius inquired with a raised eye brow. "What about your sack? Did you not carry any there?"

The mentioning of her backpack made her wince as Merlynn remembered that the old hag had thrown the dagger at her back thus destroying her netbook and put a nice slit in half of her papers. Merlynn had mourned the loss of her netbook and even tried to use her abilities to fix it, but it was no use. All it is now is a piece of futuristic junk. Although there may be a chance to create a microscope if she removes the lens from the camera.

"My clothing was in another sack and I lost it along the way. All I have are my notes from my time in the university. What exactly is it that a physician of Camelot does here?"

Gaius's description of his duties had kept Merlynn's attention as she mentally thought up procedures that Gaius could probably use like finding protective eyewear and gloves. Also thinking up a way to dispose some of the more toxic waste if a plague comes along – God knows how many came around during this time. She'll have to go down to the tradesmen area of Camelot to find someone to help her make the items she wants.

Taking another spoonful of porridge, Merlynn gulped it with a slight wince. She'll probably look at the little corner that is the 'kitchen' to see if she could make any food. According to her parents – making a pizza during this time might be actually possible (they had a family discussion about medieval cooking abilities and which types of modern recipes are duplicable with a fireplace, pit, and stone oven.) Thinking back to the all the cookbooks she memorized years ago, Merlynn was confident that she could make potato pancakes and Hollandaise sauce.

"I was hoping that yesterday was a dream." Grumbled Will as he walked over to the table with a frown. He accepted his share of the porridge and dug in quickly. Both Gaius and Merlynn shared amused looks.

"Which part; the part where we stopped a psychotic woman from killing anymore people or that you are now the servant to the prince of Camelot?" Merlynn teased as she bumped shoulders with him.

"All of the mess. I tell you, that prince is going to be an utter tosser. All nobility are." Will groused, ignoring the look that Gaius gave him. Merlynn however pitied him because she remembered the look the prince gave them when the king 'rewarded' them.

"Think of it this way, it could be worse – you could be serving the king. I heard that serving a king is spent all day listening to boring political matters that absolutely means nothing for the common people. Princes prance around acting important."

At that, Will rolled his eyes and Gaius choked on his breakfast but did nothing.

* * *

><p>Merlynn spent the morning looking over the kitchen supplies and was surprise at the amount of equipment that she could use. There was a need for a grill and she decided to design it before going to a blacksmith or metal worker to commission it. And according to Gaius, they receive a small supply of food stuffs as well as the rare herbs and ingredients that are foreign to Camelot. Most of the foods stuffs include flour, rashers of bacon, fresh eggs, milk, cheese, bread, and a variety of vegetables. Anything else had to be bought down at the market.<p>

Afterwards, she helped Gaius deliver some of the medicines to several lords and ladies. It was after she was finished with the last delivery that she spotted Will and trotted over to see how his day was.

Right away, Merlynn could see that Will was about to lose his temper and she could not blame him for it. Her friend was currently pacing around; carrying what appeared to be a rather heavy wooden bull's eye target while one man – the blond Prince Arthur threw daggers while the rest of the men with him laughed.

"Come on now! Move!" Prince Arthur ordered with a grin and another dagger flying which imbedded itself into the wooden target. Will jerked at the thud of the dagger before tripping while landing face first on the ground. The target rolled until it rested at Merlynn's feet. Will looked up and groaned at the pitying look from his friend.

"Right, prancing around." He grumbled darkly while he slowly picked himself up. Merlynn only sighed before she knelt down and began to check for injuries. Will jerked as she began to pat him down. "What are you going?"

"Checking for injuries, does this hurt?" Merlynn answered as she gently squeezed his ankles.

"Only my pride, God he's such an arrogant tosser."

"You! What are you doing?"

Without turning around, Merlynn had a pretty good idea on what sort of expression the prince had as he approached them. However she only reached out and patted Will's right shoulder and felt the involuntary flinch he gave from the sudden bite of pain. She could fell a slight bit of swelling and sighed.

"You must have pulled a muscle. Nothing serious, but it'll be better if you didn't lift up anything too heavy." She murmured to Will. "I think Gaius has some sort of salve you can use on it. It should have some numbing agent so it doesn't distract you later on."

A cloud of dust floated through and made them cough in irritation. Looking up, Merlynn saw the prince glaring down at them. While her memory easily conjured an image of the prince from last night, she had easily put it off to more interesting thoughts. The young man before her was about a few years older than her. His built was defiantly stockier than that of Wills but the two were about the same height. His blond hair stood out among those of this dark haired peers and it was obvious that out of the bunch, the prince was the best looking.

That did not mean that he was the handsomest man that Merlynn has ever seen in life. Some of the guys who were in her medical school were hotter than the prince and there were also the celebrities whom made excellent eye candy. However she serious doubt that any of those men would look good in armor, tunics, breeches, and boots. Seeing the real fashion of the medieval period being worn properly by people who just wear them just suits Prince Arthur.

Plus the man had the reddest natural looking lips ever – how was that possible?

"Did you not hear me? What are you doing?"

For a man who is to become one of the greatest icons in history and literature – Prince Arthur sure sounded like a prick.

"Just checking up on my friend, sire. You know, the one who was in the risk of being killed due to a slip if your aim unfortunately doesn't land true." Merlynn answered as she massaged the shoulder. She rolled her eyes at the gasp that Will exhaled. "However since you haven't murdered him, I'm going to have you stop your exercise. Will should only take on some lighter work for a few days – enough for his muscles to repair themselves."

"And that's your opinion, as a _doctor_?" The prince mocked with a laugh. The men who were a few paces away heard their prince's comment and laughed with him.

There were very few things that can make Merlynn angry. As a child, she had been rather shy and had a difficult time making friends with other children her age. However she grew to understand that she was different and different makes it hard to be like by peers. Then when she went to college, it slowly changed where only a few people accepted that a girl nearly ten years younger than them had the capacity to beat them in the top spots. They made fun of her lack of childhood and having the inability to drink or find a date willing to go out with her. However there was one thing that none of them would have the guts to tell her off to her face and that was her ability to be a doctor.

True, some of the patients during clinical were unnerved that a teenager was looking over them and some even demanded a change, however she stubbornly kept on. By the time she officially graduated with her masters, she had made herself a little spot in the medical and science community which was more than any college graduate could even dream of in a life time.

And she happens to be a damn good doctor.

Getting up, Merlynn glared up at the prince who looked down at her with deprecating smile. Her temper was churning furiously in her body and a part of her wanted to just_ push_ him far, far away. Instead, she inhaled a deep breath (with the smell of sweat, dirt, and metal) and simply studied the man before her.

"You're actually left-handed but considering the faith and beliefs of everyone here; you were forced to make your right hand dominate. However you or someone must have convinced your father the tactical advantages and so you can actually use either of your hand when fighting with a sword. Not that your enemies know this – you probably use two hands without the shield. And you've been up since the burning of the murderer. You still have left over ash from attending her sentence." Merlynn stated with a smirk while the prince's expression and the men who overheard them changed to that of disbelief.

"How - ?"

"Oh, please it's easy to tell. Your sword was strapped on your left side which indicates that your dominate hand should be your right. However I just saw you throw two daggers with your left hand. The fact that you didn't kill my friend suggests that you practice extensively. The amount of force with each hit also proves that you tend to fight with both arms. True with shields it would help with bulking up your left arm; however that amount of static exercise doesn't really help gain as much strength. Thus the conclusion that you usually fight by using two hands on the sword instead of the one. More power and control – suits your personality."

Pleased with the gob smacked expression on everyone's faces, Merlynn pulled Will up on his good arm and smirked at him. She was going to get to Gaius for that salve. However she could not resist a parting shot.

"And _your highness_, it's Doctor Amberson to you."

She really didn't know if Will's choking was out of laughter or horror.

* * *

><p>Gaius thought that gaining a resident in his quarters would change very little. When he received the letter from Hunith about helping out a young lad so he could find a job in Camelot, Gaius thought that there was little worry.<p>

However said boy somehow came upon an odd and unusual girl, discover the body of a noble, and uncovered a plot against the king.

William was actually a good sort of lad. He was the type who had the same story that many of the people who came to Camelot. In fact it was through Will that Gaius will no doubt have proper conversations with.

Merlynn, however was something else. It wasn't her odd clothing or the way she spoke (in fact he was rather pleased at the intelligent manner of her speech) but the way she viewed everything. Besides her denial about magic, Merlynn had rather modern ideas about day to day life. An example of this first started when Gaius showed her the chamber pot. The girl had been horrified at the thing and complained extensively about indoor plumbing and water filters.

Despite all of this, Merlynn was actually a rather good doctor like she said. Her only deficit was that she had a lack of knowledge in herbs and traditional procedures. She only knew a few sedative mixtures which consist of tea. Also the notes she provided to Gaius were so complex and advance that he could only understand at most about a third that has been written. Merlynn had been kind enough to explain everything to him but it still bombard him at how advance her learning was compared to his.

Which was why he was surprise when he woke up the next morning to a smell of cooking and the sound of someone humming. Gaius opened his eyes and twisted in his bed to see that Merlynn (dressed in tunic and breeches that she commissioned Lady Morgana's maid) cooking over the fire place. Her brown hair put up and held by that odd contraption. Taking in another deep breath, Gaius was able to distinguish the smell of fried potatoes, eggs, bacon, and something rich and lovely. Oh, and cheese.

"Merlynn?" he croaked as he slowly got up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Merlynn paused in her work to turn and smile.

"Morning Gaius, breakfast is almost done. I got some water for you to wash up in. I think it's still warm." She greeted before turning back to the cooking food.

"Smells lovely, my dear." Gaius commented as he walked over to the said bucket of water. "I'm sure whatever you have made would be wonderful."

"It better be. You have no idea how hard it was to find someone with butter. I had to almost walk out near the city walls to find a family willing to trade some salve for some butter. I'll try bacon fat next time." The girl muttered as the sounds of sizzling bacon buzzed in the background.

"Butter? Yes, it is rather difficult to procure here in the city. You have better luck getting it in the villages. You might want to try to convince the Royal Dairy Master to see if you can have a pint or so to make it yourself." Gaius suggested as he wiped his face with a worn towel.

The door to Will's room open and the man yawned tiredly as he stumbled down the stairs and reached out for water to wash his own face. Gaius only pulled at one outreached arm and led the poor boy towards the bucket. God knows Will would need all his wits about him to deal with the duties of a prince's manservant. Will only gave a grunt that was supposed to be a 'thanks' and simply dunked his head into the water. Gaius was almost afraid that the boy had fallen asleep and drowned before Will pulled out and shook his head to get rid of the excess water from his hair.

"Boy, there are towels, no need to imitate a dog." Gaius scolded as he handed Will a towel.

"Where I'm from, I'm no different from a dog to nobles." Will muttered but accepted the towel with a nod of thanks and wiped his face. "What are you doing there, Merlynn?"

"Getting your breakfast. What time does the prince want you to attend to him?"

"Two bells after sunrise. It's only been one after sunrise, right?" Will asked as he sat down at the table with Gaius.

"Yes. I think those knights of his woke me up. I could hear them shouting some ridiculous ditty or song in French. Here's some bread." Merlynn replied as she laid out two plates, each with a thick slice of bread – toasted with melted cheese. Both men gave their thanks and eagerly took careful bites from the hot bread and cheese.

However that bit of treat was nothing compared to the main course. Merlynn carefully placed a concoction of golden brown, lovely smooth white, pale yellow, and bits of green that Gaius could see was parsley. It smelled divine and Gaius was pretty sure that not even the king have seen anything as rich as this before. Merlynn quickly served two stripes of bacon on each plate before serving her own plate with only one piece of bacon.

"What is this?" Will asked as he poked and prodded his serving of breakfast. He gained some yellow sauce on his finger and he gave an experimental lick before he gave a nod of acceptance.

"It's coddled egg on top of a potato pancake topped with Hollandaise sauce and sprinkled with parsley."The girl answered before taking her spoon and cut through the stack. The spoon cut through the white of the egg and the thick yellow yolk oozed out of its confinement. Gaius quickly followed her example and took a bite out his breakfast.

It was easily the best breakfast he had ever eaten. Mostly because it was hot and rich – even Uther's wedding breakfast was not as good as what this girl had created. They all ate everything Merlynn cooked (Will had two more servings and while the rest of them had another each) and cleaned up the sauce with another slice of bread. Will had quickly ran out right after he finished to attend to the prince ("Bloody twat wants a bath in the morning. That's six buckets of water to be taken up those stairs!") Gaius attempted to help Merlynn clean the dishes but the girl waved him away.

He decided to start on looking over his inventory and to get the remedies for the various people in the castle ready. The sounds of dishes and pots being washed were soothing that he could easily ignore it. However Gaius could not help but to be curious.

"Do you cook often, Merlynn?"

"It depends. I only can cook simple recipes even if I do remember just about dozens. I'm afraid my parents worry too much that I would cut my fingers off." Merlynn mused. Gaius snorted at that. The girl had bouts of clumsiness if she were distracted. It was amazing that she hadn't destroyed his vials of medicine.

"Well, we should alternate." Gaius offered. From the snort coming from the corner, Merlynn had doubts about that. "My cooking skills may be limited, but I can assure you that I can make a decent bacon sandwich. "

"I know. That's what we had for breakfast and lunch yesterday."

Gaius felt he was being mocked.

* * *

><p>Prince Arthur Pendragon was in two moods about his new manservant Will.<p>

First was the fact that Will could get things done promptly and anything that he did not know, he was quick to learn. There were probably many who could do better, however Arthur had to admit that Will was the type who did not appear to fear much but had good sense.

The second was that Will's attitude was infuriating. Will was horrible at disguising his contempt against Arthur. Not that it was much; the man just could not stop glaring. And every time he answered Arthur it always sounded like he was snapping at him. Also, Arthur did not like the feeling that Will expected the worse out of him.

If Arthur's small conscious was currently screaming out that the lists of chores was not helping his case, the rest of his mind ignored it righteously.

Well, at least Will did not simper like the last servant and he knew when to subtly stand against Arthur and when to stand down. If Arthur were to be really honest, the only problem with Will was that he spent his time with that _female_ – Doctor Amberson.

There was something about Doctor Amberson that Arthur did not like. It wasn't just because she was always seen in men's clothing (although to be perfectly honest, her figure was too skinny for the clothing to accentuate any curves) or that she talked in such an odd way. What bother Arthur the most about the woman was that she looked at him funny. Like she thought that Arthur was unworthy and that attitude was spread to Will.

Also, she was too mouthy and too clever for Arthur to deal with – God knows he had enough of that with Morgana.

Which is why whenever Arthur sees the damn woman, Will always take the blunt of his temper.

And his knights whenever any of them got treated by the woman.

It was a pity that his father actually liked the damn woman because she managed to help the king with his indigestive problem (that's what she called it) and that the stupid woman did not believe in magic. Just that fact alone pleased his father greatly. Privately, Arthur hoped that some sorcerer would turn her into a toad.

It was a pity that Doctor Amberson was not a man. Life would be so much easier if she were a man. The main reason would be that Arthur would have the chance to beat the infuriating woman properly instead of resorting to chivalry. He spent a few minutes day dreaming on what sort of torture he would inflict upon a male Doctor Amberson. Beating a male version over the head with the flat of his sword almost made him giggle.

Good thing that he didn't though especially since he was currently walking through the market with his knights.

"Honestly Will, I can't stop Gaius from cooking if he feels like it. Besides it's just a few breakfasts a week. You can suck it up."

Speak of the witch! Arthur growled and he belated noticed that his knights went silent as they heard him while the two (and in his mind) offending people walked towards in their direction. He could see that the damn woman was still dressed as a man while carrying a large hand basket with his manservant carrying a larger basket.

"But Merlynn," his manservant drawled, "Gaius's cooking is practically awful. The only redeeming thing he can cook is a bacon sandwich. And may I remind you that our rations of bacon are small."

"And what about you? It's not like you do any of the cooking. Oh wait, you have to do a list of chores that technically should be done by four other people. One would think that a prince would have a contingency of servants to help him." The woman mocked and bumped her shoulder against Will's. "Come on, I helped you with some of the stuff."

"Yeah, thanks for cleaning the mail. I can't believe how much dirt gets in those links."

"Hmm, by the way, are you going to be late again for supper? If you are, I'll make stew so it'll still be warm when you come back."

"What kind of stew?"

"I'm going to get a bit of beef for as payment from the butcher for helping his wife with the baby two days ago. The midwife was sent over for Lady Adelle's daughter and the baby was about a week earlier than what was predicted. I thought helping birthing at home was horrible but that was the worst. With all the blood and – "

"Stop! I swear Merlynn, not even the prince's stories about warfare are as horrible as how you describe about anything else. I overheard you whining to Gaius about it yesterday!" Will cried out as he pushed the woman to the side and tried to quicken his pace.

It was then that Arthur decided to strike.

"Honestly, I didn't think my own manservant would be running away from a _girl_." He drawled out loudly. The knights with him chuckled as they watch Will stop, turn, and glared at them. Arthur believed his manservant would have stalked over to them if that damn woman didn't grab Will's arm and stopped him.

"Quit it. There's no point in arguing with _him_." Arthur could barely hear the hiss from the woman.

There was a moment that Will looked like he was going to disagree with her before shaking his head and turn back to his original direction. Arthur was disappointed that Will did not take the bait. It was like having another Morgana only this time it was in a form of a woman who wasn't even as pretty as her.

"Come on now! We were only having a bit of fun. At least more fun than gossiping like little girls." Arthur called out with a sneer. He was pleased that this time, Will did not let the woman stop him. His manservant walked right up to him to glare. "Good, I was afraid that you've been gelded for life there."

"Was there anything you need, _sire_?" the other man asked with gritted teeth. Arthur was about to say something scathing when that damn woman interrupted.

"Will, does he need you for something? I need to go to the butcher's right now before he has to sell that beef or else I'll have to wait until tomorrow to get it. Then I'll have to cook something else and you'll end up with a cold supper." The woman whined as she reached out to the basket Will was holding.

Looking down at the woman, Arthur puffed his chest and glared.

"Address your superiors properly, Doctor Amberson." He sneered and gave a sniff. The woman only stared at him like he was dullard before shaking her head.

"Are you sure you need Will for anything, your highness? I'm pretty sure that he has finished everything you have ordered. Your armor has been polished, your weapons have been cleaned and dried, your room has been placed in order, your horses groomed and their stables mucked, and all of your messages have been sent. What more can you possibly want of Will right now? You don't take your evening bath until two bells before supper and we still have plenty of daylight."

This was the annoying part of arguing with the damn woman. It was like arguing with Morgana only this damn woman actually provides reason and sense. Always, always, this woman talks to him like an adult scolding a child! Well, this time Arthur was going to have the last word!

"Training." He answered as seriously as possible. Arthur could tell that the woman was looking at him in disbelief and that Will's face matched it. No doubt that his knights' gob smacked faces was not helping his point.

"Training? Are man servants allowed to train?" the woman asked as she looked over at Will. Will only gave a shrug while looking at Arthur like there was something wrong with him. Honestly, his man servant should be pleased in training with Arthur. After all, Arthur is the best knight in Camelot and many of his knights looked to him for advice in combat.

"If I decide that he should train than he should." He replied as loftily as possible. The woman and Will shared a look before she took the large basket and shrugged.

"I'll get you a bath ready when you come back." She told Will before walking towards the market. Arthur felt pleased that he got his way that he forgot that the woman did not acknowledged his presence. He felt good that he managed to beat her.

"Come along Will," Arthur cheerfully said as he gave a thump on Will's back, "I have so much to teach you."

* * *

><p>Will was pretty sure that there was something childish and stupid going on between the prince and Merlynn.<p>

His mum once told him that little boys often tease little girls that they like. He himself had a period of tugging the braids of one girl until her family moved away to a village larger than Ealdor. However he was pretty sure that whatever was going on between his 'master' and his friend was nothing like flirting.

In fact, it was like a bloody war going on between the two.

Merlynn for some reason could not stand Prince Arthur. Most of the time she ignored the prince but whenever she found out that Will was forced to do a list of chores that he could not complete fully, she could muttered angry things before helping Will out with a few when she had time. What she mostly muttered was 'I can't believe he's Prince Arthur, future king of Camelot' before muttering what a jerk he was and other names that Will did not understand. However these days she called the prince a prat – something she learned from Will.

The prince pretty much does the same thing. Except the prince doesn't really ignore Merlynn but would verbally clash with her unless the confrontation is too public. After that, Will always finds himself suffering with extra chores and princely hissy fits whenever he had to serve the prince. Of course Will could easily see that the knights also suffered the prince's temper with the extra practices (that was from Merlynn telling the prince off that the armor looked too snug and that he should cut back on his meals), the long runs in armor around the practice yards (Merlynn pointed out that the prince's knights should build up their stamina if they couldn't keep up and that they would fail their duty), and the cut back on going out for drinking (that was from a bet between the two that the knights wouldn't be able to hold off their drinking for a month).

However it was Will who suffered the most – like a toy being fought over between two brats. The two were always trying to take him away from the other. Will wondered if this was what it felt like being fought over by two women – too bad it wasn't two women. Just his luck that a pratty prince and his odd friend are fighting over his time.

"Hold your shield up, Will!"

And right now the prince was training him for combat. That meant he was wearing old practice armor that was a little too big and a little too heavy, holding up an old shield, and carrying a sword so blunt that it could be a rod of metal. But Will had to admit that the training so far was actually nice. Despite the fact that the prince was usually a prat most of the day, he was actually serious during training. Will felt like he was actually learning to fight just like his father. He bit his lip as he remembered that his father's livery was still back at home.

His distraction cost Will a blow to the head from the flat of Arthur's sword. It was an explosion of noise over took any form of pain as he fell to the ground – his body unable to hold its balance. Will fell down on the ground with a crash and he waited for the ringing to stop.

"Ow." Will said before he lifted the visor of his helmet to see Arthur smirking down at him.

"Come now, Will. We still have another hour worth of training to go through." The prince taunted as he swung the sword in his hand in a lazy circle. Will only groaned as he slowly raised himself from the ground. "I have to admit, you are doing well for a commoner. Maybe in a few years you'll actually have a chance against a knight."

"Thank you, sire." Will grumbled as he held his sword out in front. He was beginning to understand why those knights looked so tortured after a session with Arthur.

It was more than an hour before Arthur finally released Will from the training session. The prince gave a hard slap on Will's back while stating that Will was not as helpless as he thought and added that training will be done right after Will finished all his chores. Will told Merlynn of this while he shuffled towards the tub filled with steaming water.

"Is that a good thing?" Merlynn called out as he sank into the blissful hot water.

"Maybe. Who knows what these nobles think." Will grumbled. He briefly felt guilty that Merlynn must have carried all the water and worked hard to maintain the heat of the hot water. "Thank you for the bath."

"You're welcome," Merlynn answered, "but you're going to have to carry out the prince's bath soon."

Will groans at that. He had forgotten about the buckets of water he would have to carry for the bath. Not only that, he would have to boil the water to get the right temperature. And the prince's rooms are located in a higher tower than the ones they were currently in. He could feel how utterly sore his muscles are now and he knew they were going to be worse tomorrow.

"Couldn't he just survive one day without bathing?" he asked morosely.

"Maybe, but I think he's planning to dine with the king and the Lady Morgana tonight, Gaius said something about it today." Merlynn commented. Will wondered just what his friend was doing behind the curtain that divided between them. It sounded like she was cutting something. He looked down sadly at the thought he would soon have to leave the comfort of his bath. "If you want, I can get someone to get the water into his bath, but you still need to do whatever weird duties that a manservant needs to do."

"Really? I'll owe you forever if you do, Merlynn." Will begged. It would save him a great deal of time to not carry the water.

"Yes, now take a break, I'll find someone to get you that water." Was the answer and Will could hear his friend leave the room.

Closing his eyes, Will blessed himself for having such a good friend and would have continued to think that except that Merlynn woke him from slumbering in the tub. It was just as well since the water had turned cool and his skin had begun to turn to goose flesh. Looking around, he saw that a thin towel was in arms reach and Will quickly dried himself before putting on clean clothing. Will mused that living in the palace is much different than that in Ealdor. Clean clothes every day, many hot baths, lots of food, and having a physician nearby were the benefits for being a servant of the royal family.

When he was ready to leave, Will looked to see Merlynn leaning over something in the fireplace and on one of the counters was a mix of vegetables that consist of carrots, potatoes, and something green that he did not recognized right away. However he did not see the cut of beef that the girl had raved about earlier.

"Save me some of that stew tonight." He called out and saw Merlynn waved in her acknowledgement.

Will hurried towards the prince's chambers while wincing at his sore legs. True, it was not as bad as before, but he could still feel the damage that the exercise cost him. He shivered at the thought that he was going to suffer this every day after finishing all of his chores. Will's imagination of his daily torture distracted him enough that he almost ran into someone coming in from the corner of the hallway. Luckily, Will was coordinate enough to catch the other from falling. He briefly thought that if it were Merlynn, there would be a crash which would consists of something broken.

"Sorry! I'm so sorry!" a female cried out and Will looked down to see a pretty dark hair girl with dark skin in an ordinary yellow dress. It took Will a moment to recognize who the young woman was – the main of Lady Morgana.

"It's fine, my fault." Will said as he did his best to assure the maid. She gave him a small smile before it widened.

"I know you! You're the prince's man servant. I'm Gwen." The maid said as she held out her hand. Will blinked at that before taking it and gave it a good shake.

"Yeah, name is Will and you're Lady Morgana's maid."

"Yes! I remember you and your friend um Mary or is it Meryle?"

"Merlynn."

"That's right, Merlynn! The two of you saved the royal family from that witch! That was amazing and scary," Gwen said before her eyes widen, "not that I'm saying you were scared or anything, but you have to admit that out of everyone in the kingdom, the two of you aren't exactly the types to do the saving thing. Not that I think you can't do the saving thing –"

Will decided that it would be a good time to interrupt before Gwen turn blue from trying to explain herself silly.

"It's fine. To be honest, I wasn't expecting to save the royal family when I came here." Will said with as much amusement in his tone. It relaxed Gwen considerably and Will grinned at the smile on her face. She really was a pretty girl though not exactly his sort. Lady Morgana's dark eyes and lovely smile was infinitely more his sort.

"Well you have more courage than you think you do. So does, um, Merlynn. I saw what she did for you when Arthur was making you do that stupid exercise with the daggers. Not many would stand against his highness like Lady Morgana does. And it takes lots of courage to deal with him on a daily basis like you do."

This somehow made Will feel better about being a manservant to a tosser of a prince. Too bad that he has to undress the said tosser when he could be having a nice chat with Gwen.

"Sorry, I have to do my duties for his highness," Will began and quickly continue before Gwen apologizes fervently, "Merlynn is making stew tonight and she'll probably have enough to share. After the dinner, would you like to join us?"

Gwen had happily accepted before fretting over about her father. Will promised that it was fine if Gwen invited her father as well before dashing off to the prince's chambers. As he climbed the stairs, Will thought that it was good to have a new friend. Hopefully Gwen would distract Merlynn enough not to get into childish fights with the prince.

God know what will be if Merlynn fights with the prince before Will has to train with him.

* * *

><p>AN – R&amp;R. Next chapter should be about Valient – how will Merlynn deny the magic with the shield?<p> 


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